I'm going to start this forum off with a Spider-Man question. I have a Peter Parker Spectacular Spider-Man #39. This is the cover that is normal on basically on all the books.

This is the one I have:

Look at the top left corner. On my book, it has a diamond were the price and number of issue is. On the other one, its different. Please help if you can, Thank you.I wear a mask. And that mask, it's not to hide who I am, but to create what I am.

This is honestly a question I've really wanted an answer to. It's the same for a broad range of comics. Wolverine Limited Series is the same way. From what I understand it has to do with some being printed in Canada, where printing was done cheaper for Marvel and the like at the time. But there also seems to be no difference in price between the two versions. I'm not sure if this is correct and might be total bull(banned), please clear this up if someone could.

It has to do with one being for newsstand distribution and the other for direct sale to comic shops. The one with the UPC code was for newsstands and was returnable for credit by cutting of the top of the book and returning it to the distributor. The direct edition had the Spidey face and was sold non-returnable. The top was changed to make sure the store didn't try to return that type of book. Both were printed at the same time and on the same printers. Both are first prints and in most cases have the same resale value.

Printing in Canada began in the 1980s, when publishers wanted to offer comics with better printing (printed on different types of presses). If there was ever a case in which the same issue was printed both in Canada and in the U.S., I am not aware of it. This particular comic appears (from the scan) to be a "Sparta book," meaning it was printed in Sparta, Illinois at World Color Press (the Wolverine mini-series was also printed at Sparta). World Color was the printing company used by DC, Marvel, Archie (I think), Harvey (I think), and perhaps others (but not Charlton) for standard-format comics beginning in the 1950s (for DC and perhaps others; Marvel didn't move to WCP until around 1968) until about 1992 (when DC marked the end of its relationship with WCP by publishing a series of DC Silver Age Classic reprints, originals of which had been printed by WCP).

Beginning in the late 1970s, DC and Marvel started distributing some comics through channels other than the traditional newsstand distribution channel. Apparently in order to prevent retailer fraud on distributors, or distributor fraud on publishers, comics destined for the non-traditional outlets (e.g., department stores) were printed with cover markings different from comics destined for traditional newsstand outlets. Marvel's Star Wars is a series that was widely distributed through both traditional and non-traditional channels, and it is easy to find cover variations in early issues of this series.

Also in the 1970s, retail outlets specializing in comic books were becoming a market force. The distribution system serving these retailers was known as direct-sales distribution (not a 100% accurate term, but the system did eliminate one layer of distributors, as compared to newsstand distribution). But whereas newsstand distribution permitted retailers to stock comics at no risk to the retailer (unsold comics could be returned for credit), direct-sales comics were sold to retailers without returnability, but at a higher pre-sales discount. At first, comics distributed to direct-sales shops were indistinguishable from newsstand-distributed comics. But by 1979, Marvel started marking comics meant for direct-sales shops differently from comics meant for newsstand distribution; this prevented direct-sales retailers from fraudulently returning their over-orders through newsstand distributors. DC followed suit in 1980. So (at dates unknown to me) did Archie, Harvey, and Charlton.

In ComicReaderBatman's post originating this thread, the topmost cover scan is of a comic distributed via the traditional newsstand channel, and the second scan is a comic distributed via the direct-sales channel.

Personally (as I have written elsewhere on CCL), I find direct-sales Marvels from this time period to be ugly. Aesthetically, I find the diamond-shaped box holding the month, number and price to be far less appealing than the two boxes holding the same information on the newsstand version. And while the UPC barcode was not an appealing addition to comics covers in 1976, it at least served the purpose of continuing comics' viability in a retail world moving toward electronically scanned prices. Direct-sales outlets in 1979 didn't need the barcode, so Marvel chose to remove it. But while Marvel could have made direct-sales comics preferable to newsstand comics by eliminating the barcode area completely, they chose to save the minuscule amount of money that would have been required to re-make all four printing plates (cyan, magenta, yellow, black), by deciding instead to re-make only one plate (black). As a result, almost all direct-sales Marvels from 1979 till 1993 are marred by pointless black-and-white rectangles holding useless content.

While most comics back-issue dealers are not inclined to specify whether their offerings are direct-sales or newsstand comics, there are certainly collectors (including me) who prefer one type over the other. Any assertion that neither version is worth more than the other is largely untested by the current market. For a contrary assertion, you can look up the Spectacular Spider-Man issue at Mile High Comics' web site (where it is listed, inexplicably, as Peter Parker). For a more striking price difference, check listings at that site for X-Men (1991) #100.

One thing I have not seen mentioned in this topic, though it absolutely must be true:

The BARCODED comics must be RARER than the DIRECT PRINT versions, because for one thing only, the bar-coded variant was able to be returned after destroying the cover and returning the torn off part for credit.

We should also assume that those books whose covers were torn off, would then have the rest of the book tossed in the recycle bins or trash, and that's why we do not see tons of "cover torn" comics out there in collections.

On the reverse side, many of the Direct Print books today have NEWSSTAND variants out there, but usually just with a different price. I discovered a WITCHBLADE comic in my collection one day and had several copies of the direct version, but only 1 newsstand version.

Go check your own collections and see if you find those NEWSSTAND copies there. Much rarer!

I agree with Yourplace2 that newsstand comics are generally less common than direct sales comics. In my experience, this tendency becomes more pronounced with time; i.e., newsstand comics published in 1980 are easier to find than newsstand comics published in 2010.

The practice of tearing off and returning covers for credit had stopped by the time (1979) that Marvel began publishing direct sales comics with different markings (if I am not misinformed). The later practice was for distributors at the local level to periodically create a sworn affidavit stating the number of comics received that were not sold, and to send that affidavit to the national distributor, and for the national distributor to aggregate the local affidavits, and to report them to the publisher. Obviously, this created huge opportunity for fraud in an industry (distribution) not known for a high level of ethics.

Even so, with comics shops selling mostly to collectors, and with newsstands selling mostly to casual readers, direct sales copies seem to be the ones that are preserved, generally, more than newsstand copies.

One thing I have not seen mentioned in this topic, though it absolutely must be true:

The BARCODED comics must be RARER than the DIRECT PRINT versions

I really doubt this is true of 80s and early 90s comics. As a kid I could go to one shopping center and hit three stores that had comics and cards (convenience, drug & grocery) and get any Marvel and DC books and even several indies. Comic shops were little more than a legend that existed miles and miles away. Books were sold in mass quantities to the newsstand market until the crash. Even now, when I order comics from that era on CCL, I'm just as likely to get the newsstand version. "Words have meaning." - my wife

One thing I have not seen mentioned in this topic, though it absolutely must be true:

The BARCODED comics must be RARER than the DIRECT PRINT versions

I really doubt this is true of 80s and early 90s comics. As a kid I could go to one shopping center and hit three stores that had comics and cards (convenience, drug & grocery) and get any Marvel and DC books and even several indies. Comic shops were little more than a legend that existed miles and miles away. Books were sold in mass quantities to the newsstand market until the crash. Even now, when I order comics from that era on CCL, I'm just as likely to get the newsstand version.

I agree. I meant the 70's where the tearing practice was. I still think it is going on, because the newspapers still practice this.

Also, I'm not positive, but today, there are newstands and directs being sold to retail places like magazine shops, grocery stores, delis and stores like that. Comic Shops always get DIRECTS it seems.

So, I have searched my local grocery stores for rare comics. One day I will go in and find a rack of comics, a week later, the rack is gone. I asked where it went, they said back to the distributer or home office. I actually did this when AMAZING SPIDEY with Obama on it was first out. I found 22 copies of the 2nd print variant in the rack. I bought all of them. Some of them had bar codes on them, a couple did not. The DIRECT version did not have a barcode, same price though.

So a question here is, where do the unsold newstands send there comics, and what happens to them if they are not destroyed?Join the store on FACEBOOK!

* All items must be returned prior to refund at your expense. Return shipping not refunded.

As far as the UPC code box on direct sales issues, I kinda liked this run's use of that area:

Oh, and as far as the square vs diamond price square in the top left, my LCS owner thinks that the diamond means it's a reprint. I haven't had the heart to tell her otherwise.Big signatures are REALLY annoying.

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